AQUARIUS(January 20 - February 18) You'll be angry if those you live with aren't pulling their weight. You can come into money; however, perhaps not under the best circumstances. You can make changes to your living quarters, but not everyone will be pleased with your efforts.

CAPRICORN(December 22 - January 19) Social activities that involve the whole family will be enjoyable. Don't let your emotions interfere with moneymaking deals. Your talent will be recognized.

CANCER(June 21 - July 22) Be careful while traveling. Have a heart-to-heart talk with family and find out what the problems are. If possible, rely on coworkers to back your objectives, and talk to superiors in order to get approval.

LEO(July 23 - August 22) Chances are you could get stuck with a colleague's job unexpectedly. The personal problems you may be having are interfering with your productivity. Put all your energy into moneymaking ventures.

PISCES(February 19 - March 20) You can ask for favors or run your ideas by those who will be able to support your objectives. You will enjoy getting together with friends. You will have to be careful not to fall into traps set by jealous colleagues.

GEMINI(May 21 - June 20) You will be able to borrow money in order to invest. You would be best to work late in order to avoid such disharmony. You will want to take off and have some recreation.

TAURUS(April 20 - May 20) You may feel that someone at work is holding you back. You can make a serious attempt at quitting those bad habits that you've picked up over the years. Promotions will be yours if you have acted professionally in times of crisis.

SAGITTARIUS(November 22 - December 21) If you can't trust someone, question the connection. Your ability to communicate with ease will win the hearts of those you are in touch with today. You can offer your help to others but back off if they appear to be offended by your persistence.

SCORPIO(October 23 - November 21) You should sign up for creative courses. Concentrate on your work. Jealous coworkers may try to sabotage your attempts to get ahead. Take care of the needs or responsibilities of elders.

LIBRA(September 23 - October 22) You will gain new friends if you get involved in environmental issues. Do something special for them. Do not jump to conclusions concerning your romantic partner.

VIRGO(August 23 - September 22) Business trips will be more productive than trying to fight the red tape facing you. Things are looking good for you, so open your eyes and get to it. Changes in your residence may be financially favorable.

ARIES(March 21 - April 19)Abrupt changes in your home may send you for a loop. Include friends and family members in your redecorating plans. Losses are likely if you aren't careful where you leave your valuables.

The more familiar our mind is with virtue, the calmer and more peaceful it becomes. When our mind is peaceful we are free from worries and mental discomfort, and we experience true happiness.

If we train our mind to become peaceful we will be happy all the time, even in the most adverse conditions. But if our mind is not peaceful, even if we have the most pleasant external conditions we will not be happy. Therefore it is important to train our mind through meditation.

There are two types of meditation: analytical meditation and placement meditation. When we contemplate the meaning of a Dharma instruction that we have heard or read we are doing analytical meditation.

By deeply contemplating the instruction, eventually we reach a conclusion or cause a specific virtuous state of mind to arise. This is the object of placement meditation.

Having found our object through analytical meditation, we then concentrate on it single-pointedly for as long as possible to become deeply acquainted with it.

Placement meditation depends upon contemplation, and contemplation depends upon listening to or reading Dharma instructions.

The first stage of meditation is to stop distractions and make our mind clearer and more lucid.

This can be accomplished by practicing a simple breathing meditation.

We choose a quiet place to meditate and sit in a comfortable position. We can sit in the traditional cross-legged posture or in any other position that is comfortable. If we wish, we can sit in a chair. The most important thing is to keep our back straight to prevent our mind from becoming sluggish or sleepy.

We sit with our eyes partially closed and turn our attention to our breathing. We breathe naturally, preferably through the nostrils, without attempting to control our breath, and we try to become aware of the sensation of the breath as it enters and leaves the nostrils. This sensation is our object of meditation. We should try to concentrate on it to the exclusion of everything else.

At first, our mind will be very busy, and we might even feel that the meditation is making our mind busier; but in reality we are just becoming more aware of how busy our mind actually is. There will be a great temptation to follow the different thoughts as they arise, but we should resist this and remain focused single-pointedly on the sensation of the breath.

If we discover that our mind has wandered and is following our thoughts, we should immediately return it to the breath. We should repeat this as many times as necessary until the mind settles on the breath.

Our mind will feel lucid and spacious and we will feel refreshed. When the sea is rough, sediment is churned up and the water becomes murky, but when the wind dies down the mud gradually settles and the water becomes clear.

In a similar way, when the otherwise incessant flow of our distracting thoughts is calmed through concentrating on the breath, our mind becomes unusually lucid and clear. We should stay with this state of mental calm for a while.

Even though breathing meditation is only a preliminary stage of meditation, it can be quite powerful. We can see from this practice that it is possible to experience inner peace and contentment just by controlling the mind, without having to depend at all upon external conditions.

When the turbulence of distracting thoughts subsides and our mind becomes still, a deep happiness and contentment naturally arises from within. This feeling of contentment and well-being helps us to cope with the busyness and difficulties of daily life.

So much of the stress and tension we normally experience comes from our mind, and many of the problems we experience, including ill health, are caused or aggravated by this stress. Just by doing breathing meditation for ten or fifteen minutes each day, we will be able to reduce this stress.

We will experience a calm, spacious feeling in the mind, and many of our usual problems will fall away. Difficult situations will become easier to deal with, we will naturally feel warm and well disposed towards other people, and our relationships with others will gradually improve.

We should train in this preliminary meditation until we gain some experience of it. However, if we want to attain permanent, unchanging inner peace, and if we want to become completely free from problems and suffering, meditation is vital to attaining enlightenment and must be taken seriously.

Re: What is Meditation? By: CraCraIzzzyOct 03, 2014

Post # 2

Wow a lot to read but, amazing. I believe what your saying is halfway true. Yes of we meditate we will be able to solve things quicker, be more peaceful, be more patient, however; we will not be happy all the time, I'm jjust saying.

Meditation is acquainting our minds with virtue? Well, not exactly! It is certainly calming! But really it is clearing the mind (as much as possible) of conscious thought, and allowing the subconscious mind to take over. The conscious mind "sees" what it needs to see. The subconscious "sees" everything! A vast amount of "hidden" knowledge.

And the original post is really about Buddhism; and sounds very close to preaching!

Re: What is Meditation? By: AkshobiyaOct 03, 2014

Post # 5

Not at all Brysnig, these teachings come directly from my own experience and i merely sharing knowledge about it. I never expect anyone to follow what I'm saying nor would I ever try to convert someone away from their own beliefs.

Having respect for other peoples faiths is very important to me, so I apologize if my post seemed to give off that impression, but I was only placing emphasis on the benefits of meditation rather than say it was better than other methods of spiritual or esoteric practices.

The original post was cut and pasted from http://www.how-to-meditate.org/transforming-meditations.htm/

Failing to give credit to the author of a piece or a website from which a piece is taken is considered plagiarism and is a violation of the rules here on SOM. Continued such violations could result in no longer being able to post to SOM.